Horse Show Dog

Back in July, my husband and I picked up a dog! A super cute 4 month old GSD. He was supposed to get picked up by a family who ended up not being able to come pick him up, so he sat around while his breeders planned to market him (but didn't really, which worked out for us). Husband fell head over heels for this dog before we even met him. I kept a more level head until I met him and then promptly fell hard for him!

Meet Radar!

He was definitely underweight when we first got him (he was in a home with 5 other dogs and I think was getting pushed out of his food), but we have definitely fixed that. He went from about 25lbs when we first bought him to over 50lbs now!

I have only ever owned little dogs during my lifetime, and the last 2 were Dachshunds at that (they both live with my parents). If you've never met a Dachshund, let me just tell you - they are stubborn little suckers. LOVE my little dogs, but their obedience is always contingent on whether or not they feel like doing whatever you're asking.

Adorbs cookies & adorbs face

This dog has been life changing for me! He is incredibly loyal, and wicked smart, with an intense desire to please you. I kid you not, took him 6 treats to learn how to sit down. Six. In just the last couple of months, he has learned sit, down, come & heel. We are working on stay, but he doesn't comprehend why he has to stay away when he just wants to love you.

Anyways, onto the horse show dog part of this post! Since this dog is fiercely loyal and incredibly smart, I really want him to be my horse show dog buddy. I've never gotten the opportunity to have a horse show dog of my own, but obviously I've been around them constantly!

A good horse show dog must be obedient, quiet and willing to hang out alone for a while. Radar has done tons of outings to various food locations, pet stores, friend's houses, etc. We want him to be a well rounded, socialized dog.

He is kind of a chicken and barks at people sometimes but he is easily quieted and is generally a good boy when we bring him out.

I brought him to his first ever horse show a few weekends ago! 

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He was a super good boy. He barked a couple of times at a few people but refocused on me when I asked him to. And of course, 99.9% of horse people also seem to be dog people, so everyone was super kind and gentle with him even when he got a little worried.

We walked our whole XC course and he thought that was great fun! He's not quite confident enough in his gangly body yet to jump on the fences for me to get cute photos of that, but he does love jumping ditches with me!

He patiently waited at the trailer for me while I tacked up. Most definitely thought it was stupid that he had to be tied up and couldn't be involved in all the action, but he was a very good boy despite it!

Learning to not eat his treat until told!

Husband was meeting us at the show but wouldn't be there until like 15 minutes before my ride time, so I chucked Radar in the front part of my trailer with some food & water, and he laid down and didn't make a peep!

Once husband arrived, he got Radar back out & wandered around with him while taking photos, and Radar was quite well behaved! A couple more little barks but otherwise obedient and quiet. He had been quiet as a mouse in the trailer and didn't seem to mind being left there at all!

I brought him with me again on SJ day and again he took to the whole horse show scene like a fish to water! We didn't bark at anyone on the second day! He still thinks being tied up is dumb, but he is quiet and easy to deal with!

As a competitor, obviously you don't want to have to worry about too many things on show day. He was wonderfully easy to handle and didn't stress me out any more than I normally stress at shows. I think he is going to be a fantastic horse show dog with more time and outings! He is already well on his way in my opinion!